“Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!”
When the Big Bai Pirate Gang and the fleet of the Cultivators successfully joined, and when the flag of white mouse twisting its bottom, the flag of Starlight, and the flag of the crowned fist fluttered in the burning sky of the Blue Sky Market together, all the space pirates from the Star Glory Federation and the Cultivators of Starlight began to cheer from the bottom of their hearts.
It was needless to say the central members of the Big Bai Pirate Gang.
Although they had almost been invincible in the hundreds of fierce battles after they jumped to the Imperium from the federation under the leadership of Boss Bai, and they had returned with loads of trophies every time, they had never conquered such a resourceful and sturdy city as the Blue Sky Market before, nor had they ever crushed a whole fleet of the regular army!
Such an unprecedented triumph was not only the glory of the space pirates but also the glory of the federation from the edge of the cosmos.
Even though they were humble space pirates who might have been in jail for decades in the federation, the federation was their homeland after all, where their family and friends still stayed. The connection between them and the federation could never be excised.
The “bumpkins” from the edge of the cosmos, after barging into the splendid worlds at the center of the cosmos, were still having a great time and even turning the worlds upside down.
Hehe. In terms of technologies and advancement of civilization, the wealthy places at the center of the cosmos were naturally better, but when it came to brutality and toughness, it was certainly the vicious folks from the rough lands that were more fearsome!
One day, the brutality of the federal space pirates would be known by everybody at the center of the cosmos, and the very first flash that illuminated their name would be the battle today, where the Blue Sky Market was conquered, twenty-eight pirate gangs were swallowed, and Li Wuji’s entire fleet was crushed!
Boss Bai did not lie to them at all. They had a good chance to be the freest people ever and the greatest space pirates in the universe!
It was even more needless to say the Cultivators from the Imperium.
During the hundreds of years before today, they had been struggling on the brink of destruction, and it was already their best if they could make a voice in their fury. Even the magnificent uprisings in the mines and the farms often died as abruptly as they took place. They would easily be crushed when the regular army of the Imperium came to suppress them.
Little had they ever dreamed that they could conquer a gigantic business and trade center or shatter an elite fleet of the regular army with their barrages. Even a marquess of the Imperium had been captured alive by them!
More importantly, after the Blue Sky Market was occupied, they had earned sufficient assets. The training resources in the trophies would be enough to help many of them to break into new levels and significantly improve their combat ability.
The starships of the space pirates and the regular army that had been captured could also be maintained and upgraded with the facilities in the Blue Sky Market, comprehensively upgrading their fleet that was as ragged as beggars right now.
In such a way, the fire of Cultivators that had been suppressed for a thousand years had the hope of being reignited and spread out again!
How could they not be cheering in euphoria?
The whole Blue Sky Market had turned into an ocean of joy. The federal space pirates and the Cultivators of the Imperium, the weird combination, sang and danced merrily. Naturally, in light of what happened to the space pirates and the regular army of the Imperium, alcohol was certainly not an option. The victors could only wave their flags vehemently to let out their excitement and ecstasy.
Below the wonderful flags, two partners that had been separated for a long time met again. They were exactly Han Te and Liu Li, the young man and the girl from the Martial Meritocrats Sector.
The two fledgling and vigorous teenagers embraced each other tightly.
The whole world seemed to have disappeared, and they were all there was.
“Han Te!”
“Liu Li!”
The two pairs of eyes that were staring at each other were both filled with tears. Reviewing their extraordinary experiences in the last half a year, they both felt that it was almost a dream.
When Han Te, Liu Li, “Fist King” Lei Zonglie, and Gao Dashan, the experienced captain from Starlight, were rescued from the main planet of the Martial Meritocrats Sector by Li Yao, the Martial Meritocrats Sector was still occupied by the Immortal Cultivators.
Having no alternatives, Li Yao sacrificed himself to distract all the Immortal Cultivators, allowing whatever left of Starlight to run to the edge of the fourth quadrant at the edge of the Imperium to search for Boss Bai.
Despite Li Yao’s confident declaration, Han Te and Liu Li did not have much faith in Boss Bai, the head of space pirates. They had heard a thing or two about space pirates and knew that they were all ferocious men who did not have any integrity or credit. Besides, even the strongest space pirates couldn’t have been a match for the regular army of the Immortal Cultivators.
This Boss Bai did not know them at all. How could he have accepted such a crushed team of Cultivators recklessly, which would only be a burden for him?
However, they had no choices back then and could only turn to the last resort. Through all difficulties, thanks to the leadership and protection of the Fist King, they finally arrived at the periphery of the Imperium and got in touch with Boss Bai by chance.
Out of their expectation, after observing their tiny team up and down for a long time, Boss Bai did not turn them down and even gave them a piece of surprising advice.
“You, the Cultivators, are too eye-catching. If you stay in the Big Bai Pirate Gang, it will be easy for the Immortal Cultivators to notice you, which will be troublesome for the both of us.
“However, for the sake that… you are Cultivators, I will not watch you die without doing anything. Here’s a solution for you.
“My Big Bai Pirate Gang has sailed and raged in the peripheral worlds of the Imperium and developed to what it is today all because of speed and professionalism. What I’ve been training with are the best soldiers, who use the latest warships that have the highest speed, fiercest firepower, and best equipment.
“However, we often captured a lot of obsolete, heavy starships when we looted the Immortal Cultivators’ ports or attacked other pirate gangs. I would never take those burdens away, but it seemed a shame to just abandon them.
“As it happens, I’ve just done a few big jobs, and I have a lot of such old and awkward starships as well as weapons that are no better than garbage in my hands. If you do not despise them, I’ll offer those gears to you for you to develop your fleet of Cultivators.
“In the meantime, I can send a batch of tutors to you. They are all seasoned space pirates who have the most battle experiences. They will teach you how to establish and command a real fleet.
“What I’m saying is that the Big Bai Pirate Gang and the fleet of Cultivators can play different roles in cooperation, one in the light and the other in the dark.
“Specifically speaking, I have a lot of intelligence regarding the pirate gangs that are on a job, but if I loot them too often, I may be hated by the people of my trade. So, it will be better if you attack them when they have just done a great business, with their arsenal empty and their warehouses full!
“Or rather, it wouldn’t matter if I intercept their trophies myself as long as you take the blame afterward. All in all, we will simply observe our agreement. I will have the latest warships, whereas the other starships will be yours. The rest of the assets will be divided evenly. Consider it a favor from me to support the development of the Cultivators in the Imperium.
“One other thing. On the vast resource planets and in the mines and farms at the periphery of the Imperium, tremendous precious intelligence and human resources are hidden. I’m hoping to work on those aspects, establish a few bases, and transform most people at the edge of the Imperium into my sympathizers and supporters, or at least people who are willing to do business with me.
“But it won’t be appropriate for me to do that. Taller trees catch more wind. What exactly does a filthy space pirate want to do when he is winning the people’s support? But it is most suitable for your ‘Starlight’ to do that because you have been doing that since the beginning. Most of the ordinary people have heard your name before and rather trust you.
“All in all, our two parties can pretend to be at loggerheads or even fight each other hard, but there is in fact a lot of room for cooperation and complementation between us. If we play our roles well, even if the regime of the Imperium is not changed, we can at least significantly expand our living space. How about it? Are you willing to do that?”
Now that Boss Bai had put it in such a way, what else could the desperate survivors of Starlight say? Of course they would do it!
What happened later was exactly what Boss Bai predicted.
At first, he offered a batch of outdated starships, which were still usable, to the survivors of Starlight. He then sent experienced space pirates to help train the soldiers of Starlight, teaching Starlight how to ambush, move, and loot other people when they were in trouble almost hand in hand. He also worked together with Starlight to swallow quite a few infamous pirate gangs, allowing Starlight to upgrade their gears and develop rapidly.
After that, with the mainframe crystal processors with high computational abilities, “Fist King” Lei Zonglie’s combat and commanding abilities soared. He was even stronger than Boss Bai in terms of hacking and cyberwarfare. The two parties truly became an inseparable whole.
Today, they had conquered the Blue Sky Market together and swallowed twenty-eight pirate gangs and one regular fleet when they were terribly outnumbered, announcing that they were a force at the edge of the Imperium not to be underestimated.
Everything! Everything was truly like a dream!
“Liu Li, snap on my forehead and see if we are dreaming. I don’t want to find myself suffering on the Land of Sins after I wake up later!”
Han Te said to Liu Li with a smile.
Liu Li curled her finger and snapped at Han Te’s forehead so hard that Han Te jumped to his feet and then lowered his back while covering his head. Even his tears were almost running out.
While wiping his tears, he burst into laughter. “It hurts. This is not a dream. We’ve truly won. If we can conquer the Blue Sky Market today, maybe it won’t take long before we return to the Martial Meritocrats Sector with an overwhelming fleet and smash the Land of Sins into pieces!”
The young man from the Land of Sins couldn’t forget his disastrous homeland.
Of course, what he couldn’t forget more was the little sister before him who had escaped from the Land of Sins together with him.